Continental flies into fourth place
Carrier rises in size rankings as mileage jumps by 13 percent

By BILL HENSEL JR.
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

Continental's drive to expand has allowed it to pass Northwest Airlines, becoming the nation's fourth-largest air carrier.

The Houston-based carrier flew 24.6 billion miles through April of this year ï¿½ up 13 percent. Mileage at Northwest, which is in bankruptcy court, dropped by about 6.2 percent to 23 billion miles.

The next carrier on this list was Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, reporting 21 billion miles through April.

The rankings are based on revenue passenger miles as reported by the airlines each month.

Continental, which has been adding seat capacity while many other carriers have been shrinking, has said it will grow by about 8.3 percent this year, while Southwest will grow 9 percent.

Southwest carries more than 80 percent of the passengers in Houston's Hobby Airport.

Based on the data reported by the airlines, Fort Worth-based American Airlines is ranked first, flying 44.9 billion miles. Second was United, at 37.2 billion, followed by Delta at 35.8 billion.

Continental credited wage and benefit concessions by its employees for helping it pursue its ongoing expansion.

"Because of their personal sacrifices, Continental was able to survive the tough times, avoid the fate of other airlines that are now in bankruptcy and embark on one of the most aggressive expansion plans in our history," Continental spokeswoman Julie King said Friday.

All of the nation's big airlines except Southwest have been making moves to add international flights because they can make more money.

Southwest just flies domestically.

Northwest ranks ahead of Continental in terms of passengers boarded, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

That agency, reporting for the first two months of the year, shows Southwest Airlines to be first in passenger boardings, carrying 13.6 million. Continental is fifth, at 5.2 million.

A spokesman for Northwest, who acknowledged it is the fifth-biggest carrier in terms of revenue passenger miles, said it's been reducing flights.

It is working to build a more profitable route system at a time of higher fuel costs.

Northwest has embarked on a "right-sizing" campaign while in bankruptcy court to try to make it more competitive.

That includes wage and benefits concessions by employees and shedding some aircraft.

Travel expert Terry Trippler said Friday that while the change in rankings could be temporary, time will tell. He expects Northwest to emerge from bankruptcy court protection at the end of this year or in 2007.

"Northwest is going to have a real battle on their hands because Continental seems to be an airline that is at the right place at the right time doing the right thing," said Trippler, a spokesman for CheapSeats.com. "What they have been doing has been working, and if it ain't broke, you don't fix it."

"Northwest is going to have a real battle on their hands because Continental seems to be an airline that is at the right place at the right time doing the right thing," said Trippler, a spokesman for CheapSeats.com. "What they have been doing has been working, and if it ain't broke, you don't fix it."

What battle? NW and CO are partners...and outside of the CLE/DTW area they don't really overlap at all. Even MEM and IAH serve different traffic flows, even if they relatively close together.

Don't fool yourself. If you're going to get the picture in most alliances of warm and fuzzy partners, all one big happy family, you're mistaken. Even within alliances, this is still a cut-throat business, and simply because you're in an alliance doesn't mean you want to yield market to a partner.

Which is why I laugh my ass of when I hear people say that out of CLE that CO will run this or that, or not run this or that, because of what NW is doing in DTW. That's just idiotic. CO is going to do in CLE what it thinks is best for CO, and doesn't really give a rats ass what NW thinks about it.

"Because of their personal sacrifices, Continental was able to survive the tough times, avoid the fate of other airlines that are now in bankruptcy and embark on one of the most aggressive expansion plans in our history," Continental spokeswoman Julie King said Friday.

Avoid what fate? They're making some interesting assumptions here. And, a little revisionist history as well. Nice.

Quoting Burnsie28 (Reply 6):They likely wont be bigger then NW for too long, NW is once again expanding quite a bit and with 757's and the return of 3 more 744's and receiving more A330's should put NW back on top.

That's in the nexts 12 to 18 Months, a short time after that the B787 come in. NWA is getting 12, CO only 5.

Quoting Bobnwa (Reply 10):Perrenial losers? Which of these three airlines has declared bankruptcy twice?

Pre- and post-9/11 bankruptcy are two entirely different things; it's not a fair comparison to refer to CO's two bankruptcies in the late 80s and early 90s in the same context as the current situation at NW and DL.

Quoting Cory6188 (Reply 11):Pre- and post-9/11 bankruptcy are two entirely different things; it's not a fair comparison to refer to CO's two bankruptcies in the late 80s and early 90s in the same context as the current situation at NW and DL.

I realize they are two different situations but Western A318 used the time period of "perennial" ( or perrenial as he called it) which goes back much further than 9/11. for the past 50, 40, 30, 20 or 10 years CO has been had much deeper financial problems than either DL or NW. His choice of the time period, not mine.

They would definitely have to open up some sort of hub out west, or connect everything to IAH ala DL at ATL. I personally don't see this happeneing, CO is virtually non-existant up here in the western part of the midwest and plains states (IA, IL, MN, NE and the Dakotas). At least with DL they are servicing many of the small/mid sized markets to their hubs.

Don't fool yourself. If you're going to get the picture in most alliances of warm and fuzzy partners, all one big happy family, you're mistaken.

I'm not fooling myself, thank you very much. I never implied that NW and CO were making sweet love beneath the shady pines. But CO, as long as they are partners with NW in Skyteam, will fight thier battles elsewhere.

Quoting OzarkD9S (Reply 1):What battle? NW and CO are partners...and outside of the CLE/DTW area they don't really overlap at all. Even MEM and IAH serve different traffic flows, even if they relatively close together.

Quoting Cory6188 (Reply 11):Pre- and post-9/11 bankruptcy are two entirely different things; it's not a fair comparison to refer to CO's two bankruptcies in the late 80s and early 90s in the same context as the current situation at NW and DL.

I don't get this statement at all. How is post-9/11 bankruptcy different than pre-9/11 bankruptcy?

Quoting Navairjax (Reply 21):Both US and DL would likely have died if the courts still acted as they did back in the late 80s/early 90s.

Do you have any factual data to defend this statement, or is it just your opinion?

Quoting Cory6188 (Reply 11):Pre- and post-9/11 bankruptcy are two entirely different things; it's not a fair comparison to refer to CO's two bankruptcies in the late 80s and early 90s in the same context as the current situation at NW and DL.

I've heard so many people say this, but not one can produce a credible argument as to why it is true.

It's a new day. Every moment matters. Now, more than ever.

25 Navairjax
: While it is indeed my opinion some facts are hard to ignore. The Christmas 04 fiasco in PHL would have certainly have had a similar impact to US as t

26 DeltaSFO
: I couldn't disagree with you more strongly. Since entering bankruptcy, Delta has accelerated the previously announced $5 billion cost reduction goal

27 Cory6188
: The environments in which the companies' respective bankruptcies took (and are taking) place are entirely different. When CO was in bankruptcy in the